LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Hints for Helpful Holly

Driving along the residential road that leads to my small town
Wisconsin house the other day, I saw that someone had put an American
flag at every corner. They were small flags, about two feet high, and
at the base of each was a piece of paper. So, being a curious sort of
person, I stopped and took one of the little postcard-sized papers
and had a look at it.

"Support Our Troops," it read in blurry red letters. Below it, in
blue, were the details of the departure of Company A, 1st Battalion,
128th Infantry of the Wisconsin Army National Guard, presumably to
Iraq, later this month. The note requests that we come to the
university clock tower at 8 a.m. and "bring signs, banners or flags
as a way to show our appreciation and to say 'thank you for your
service to our country.'"

On the reverse side, under the words "compliments of," is stapled
the business card of a real estate agent named Holly Wagner of Miller
Real Estate and the words, "How can I help you?"

This is an open letter to Holly Wagner, to tell her how she can
help me.

Dear Holly:

Thanks for your offer of help. We need a lot of help just now.
Here's a list of some things that would be helpful.

First of all, Holly, I would find it helpful if you would not use
the American flag to advertise your business. The flag means
something serious to many of us, and using it for private profit is
inappropriate. (Perkins Restaurants, please note.)

Second, it would help if you would stop trying to make a buck out
of the war. I know that Halliburton and lots of other big companies
are making billions on Iraq, so it must seem harsh that I'd complain
about you trying to get a commission or two out of it. If I could
talk to Halliburton about it, I would. The thing is, people get
suspicious about your motives when you do something like that. Do you
care more about the troops or about getting listings? As mentioned,
you are not the only one with this problem.

Third, it would help our troops if you would be specific about
what supporting them means. The Bush administration has cut VA
funding, tried to cut combat pay, made Iraq troops on leave pay their
own way home, even tried to cut combat death payments -- all this to
finance tax cuts for his rich supporters. Yet most of the "support
our troops" people seem to be Bush supporters who really mean "be in
favor of the war." Make it clear, Holly, if you would, that the main
person who needs to hear the words "support our troops" is George W.
Bush.

Fourth, waving flags and banners as our troops go off to a
pointless war is probably a bad idea. I wish them well. I hope they
all come home safely. But I worry that flag-waving on the occasion of
their departure would be interpreted as supporting, not the troops,
but this completely misguided war and its utterly incompetent
instigators in Washington. I would find it helpful, Holly, if you
would organize a solemn sendoff that would impress on the people who,
as they see the families of the soldiers in tears, understand what a
sad mess Bush and his administration have gotten us into.

This is my answer to your question. I'm glad you want to help.

Sincerely,

Bill O'Neill
Menomonie, Wis.

NBA Finals Lessons

What I Learned from the NBA Finals (Detroit 4-1 over L.A.): 
That "little" people who get in shape, hustle and persevere can
win;

 That reality can outshine glitter, despite all the PR to
the contrary;

 That dynasties can fail and storied empires fall;

 That radical restructuring can occur at a moment's
notice;

 That hard work, courage and initiative can create windows
of opportunity;

 That, if we play cohesively as a team and contest every
single possession, we can dominate;

 That, given the above, domestic regime change is
inevitable.

PS: That Phil Jackson can now move on to his next incarnation,
running in 2006 and becoming a US senator from Montana.

Paul Richards
Boulder, Mont.

(Richards is a former Montana legislator who now serves as a
media consultant. See www.prmediaconsultants.com.)

TIF Tough on Taxpayers

To further explain the fraud in the Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
program in Missouri, discussed by Margot Ford McMillen ["Time for
New Resolutions," 5/15/04 TPP]: It was sold as a means of
redeveloping parts of North St. Louis that look like a war zone. It
has been used to rebuild upscale shopping centers to make them more
upscale. When the owners of the "Victor Roberts Building" in North
St. Louis applied for a TIF to develop a shopping center around his
building, he was turned down. They had to finance the development
with their own money. (The banks turned them down also.) "Big Box"
users of TIFs will occupy the land until the TIF runs out, then pick
up and move to a new location with a new TIF. Thus they never pay
property taxes and Missouri's schools and health care services get
the short end of the stick.

Joseph J. Kuciejczyk
St. Louis, Mo.

Arrogance

Long ago I ceased to be astonished by human behavior, no matter
how depraved. However, I must confess some surprise at the attack on
John Kerry's war record. Dick Cheney made a particularly virulent
speech at Westminster College labeling Kerry as anti-American among
other things. Other sources have implied that there is something
spurious about Kerry's wounds.

Logically, one would assume the administration would ignore this
topic. After all, most of them managed to avoid military combat when
it was their turn to serve. Cheney obtained five or six deferments
and told the Washington Post, "I had other priorities in the '60s
than military service." Wolfowitz and Rove avoided the draft and
Ashcroft obtained a teaching deferment. Through the auspices of
wealthy and important patrons, George W. Bush was accepted by the
Texas Air National Guard and never left stateside. While in the
Guard, he disobeyed a direct order, normally a court martial offense,
and [apparently] was absent without leave for some months, a
federal crime.

These men not only willfully failed to do their duty then but are
now shamelessly consigning young Americans to death and dismemberment
while they pretend to be noble leaders in a war they initiated. The
attack on Sen. Kerry is just one of many examples of their arrogance
and contempt for the intelligence of the American people.

Shirley Neiman
Clinton, Iowa

Fix Voting

The 6/14/04 Business Week's series of articles on "Does Your Vote
Matter" makes clear the need to fix our broken voting system now,
before Nov. 2. Our democratic form of government is at stake! The
recent Republican redistricting of congressional election districts
in state legislatures is the culprit. (See page 66, "Pushing the
envelope.") Please read the entire set of articles.

I am writing to alert you ... to advocate action now, this year.
We have 4-1/2 months before Nov. 2 to restore the original
[congressional] election districts of 2000. Challenge Tom
DeLay in the state and federal courts. Make him accountable.

The 10-year redistricting rule must be made into law. It must not
be undermined. It is an orderly process made to protect our state
legislators, by securing their terms of office, to maintain stability
in the legislature.

If the Republicans get away with their recent redistricting
efforts this year, unchallenged by the Democrats and the public, they
will intensify and consolidate their usurpt powers, win the
presidential election and make the problem of reform more difficult
to correct in the future.

It is better to act now than to have blood in the streets!

Florence Zander
Guilford Conn.

Make Outrage Last

Living with outrage over the torture at Abu Ghraib has put a
strain on the psyche, but for some it was a culmination of perpetual
outrage felt since President George W. took office. However we manage
to cope with our outrage, we need to remember Abu Ghraib.

The focus on humiliation incurred by the assault on Iraqis'
cultural prohibitions against nudity and homosexuality has distracted
us from reports of physical harm to prisoners, as well as deaths and
"disappearances" that occurred.

A photo in the 5/17/04 New Yorker shows Army dogs being held by
American military dog handlers, threatening a naked prisoner; he is
reportedly appearing in subsequent photos bleeding from wounds on his
thigh and leg.

In the 5/31/04 New Yorker article, "Among the Settlers: Will They
Destroy Israel?" by Jeff Goldberg, he reports visiting an
organization called Jewish Legion, which is "training dogs to guard
settlements in case of an Israeli Army pullout." The director of the
program says, "The Arabs are very scared of dogs. Muslims think
they're unclean." This was surely known by whoever ordered the use of
dogs to torture Iraqis.

US Needs Progressive Plan

After reading your editorial, "Dems Need a Plan" [6/15/04
TPP], I have what seems an obvious question. All of the points
raised in your editorial are and have been addressed by presidential
candidates Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich. Nader and Kucinich are
the only candidates that are expressing the progressive agenda. Ralph
and Dennis speak for me and millions of other progressives.

If you are looking for a progressive Democratic candidate why not
Dennis Kucinich, the progressive Democratic candidate for president
in 2004? ...

Kerry is a good man but he is another Corporate Democrat with a
corporate agenda. I am not interested in voting for a "kinder,
gentler" George W. Bush!

Why isn't your paper more responsive to the campaigns of these two
heroic leaders, Nader and Kucinich? We need to support the candidates
that most closely voice our views. This "beat Bush at any cost" is
simply a way to silence our collective progressive voice.

Regis McCann, Green
West Hurley, N.Y.

Dems Not Progressive

I believe it is wrong to spread the illusions of Arianna
Huffington et al that Democrats are a progressive alternative to the
reactionary policies of the Republicans. Haven't we learned from the
debacles of Mondale, Dukakis, Humphrey and other weasels that people
like them and Kerry are incapable of a progressive agenda while
accepting corporate bribes masked as contributions? Give it up,
already.

John Briggs
Eagle River, Wis.

Editor Replies: We endorsed Kucinich in the
Democratic primary, but noted that Kerry would be an acceptable
alternative. Democratic voters pretty clearly made their choice. We
wish Kerry would come out more forcefully for withdrawal from Iraq,
as we wish Democrats would be more progressive and populist, but in a
race against Bush, Tom DeLay and Bill Frist our choice is clear. This
is not a year for protest votes.

Show Some Vision

Maybe I was spoiled by Howard Dean, who used his head but spoke
from the gut. Over and over I am seeing people mourning that Kerry's
campaign is lackluster and I have to agree. He needs to show some
ideas that distinguish him from the W (stands for "whodunit?").

When Guantanamo was in the news, we needed him to say that these
people should have legal recourse -- the American way, after all.

Now that we're coming up on June 30, we need him to offer an
actual solution to Iraq -- divide it into the three lands that the
European colonialists threw together in one border. I am sure that
the people of Kurdistan, Sunni Iraq and Shiastan could work out their
security and policies much better than them foreigners.

As far as the gas prices -- don't suggest we use our strategic
reserves that are for an emergency. How about let's start making our
own Prius and other gas-efficient cars, like Kerry once rode to a
rally in. How about tax breaks for those companies and owners as an
incentive to beat Bush and his oil cronies!

We need somebody to beat Bush who has ideas and shows it, who
clearly shows it to the American people. Stop worrying about losing
votes and start worrying about getting some. Don't be the negative
bad guy, but be the positive hero and leader that we all need
instead.

John Baringer
Tucson, Ariz.

Stop Profiteering

The high price of gasoline hasn't yet changed my driving habits or
plans, but it has already changed my other discretionary spending --
and it has definitely changed my attitude toward our elected
officials, despite the fact that escalating fuel costs, driven by
OPEC supply-manipulation and profiteering and price gouging by
unscrupulous oil companies and refineries, are the primary
inflation-drivers that will soon stifle our consumer-driven economic
recovery. President Bush and his puppet congressional leadership have
stubbornly refused to help consumers in their urgent time of need.
Corporate pirates gouge us because they can, because congressional
oversight is blind. ... Unfair pricing of energy and prescription
drugs are the cruelest possible "tax" to impose on seniors. There's
nothing "compassionate" about gouging the elderly.